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If you can’t drink and drive, maybe you shouldn’t drink and run a nuclear power plant.

Canada’s nuclear regulator has proposed new “fitness for duty” rules that would require anyone with unescorted access to sensitive areas of a nuclear plant to be subject to random drug and alcohol testing.

The policy would be a departure for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

“Presently, the CNSC does not have explicit alcohol or drug testing requirements,” a spokesman said.

The commission does require nuclear operators to have a “fitness for duty” program, but doesn’t spell out the requirements for drug and alcohol use.

Now, the commission has released a discussion paper proposing to change that.

“The CNSC believes in being proactive, in order to reduce the risk of impairment-related safety events at Canada’s nuclear power plants,” says the paper.

The commission says the paper is not a response to any incidents at nuclear plants.

But it proposes tough new rules that “strictly prohibits the use or possession of alcohol or drugs by workers while on duty.”

That means pre-employment testing, and follow-up random testing, for any worker with unescorted access to safety-sensitive areas of a nuclear plant.

The paper says there’s a balance to be weighed between individual privacy, and the safety of a nuclear plant and its surroundings.

“Given the potential safety risks that an impaired worker poses to a nuclear facility, the CNSC believes that the balance of interest should favour the safety concerns of the public,” the paper says.

Testing would also be done if there are reasonable grounds to suspect a worker is impaired, and then for follow-up.

Testing should be complemented by training for workers and supervisors, and by employee assistance programs for workers dealing with drug, health, emotional and family problems, the paper says.

Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Bruce Power, hadn’t yet read the discussion paper Tuesday, but said it grew out of discussions among nuclear executives and the CNSC.

“My own personal view is it’s a good practice to do these things,” Hawthorne said.

“The U.S. regulatory regime, they have the right to randomly test anyone,” he said, but Canada has “a different privacy and civil liberty environment.”

Bruce Power has pre-employment drug testing for new hires. An it can test employees “for cause” – if there’s good reason to suspect impairment, he said. The company also has a support program for employees who voluntarily disclose they have drug or alcohol issues.

Ontario Power Generation, which operates the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations, currently does not have a random testing program for nuclear workers, spokesman Ted Gruetzner said in an interview.

The company does have a fitness for duty program, he said. Part of it involves training supervisors to monitor workers as they arrive on the job for signs of impairment, fatigue or emotional strain.

While the company has disciplined employees for impairment, it has been “a very rare event,” he said.

The Power Workers Union, which represents staff in nuclear plants, said its lawyers are studying the discussion paper, and had no other comment.

Other industries have drug testing programs. The Toronto Transit Commission tests employees after a serious accident. The commission has approved, but not yet implemented, a policy of random testing.

Canadian airline pilots are not subject to random testing according to Paul Howard of the Air Canada Pilots Association. They do have to pass regular physical exams from specially qualified doctors.

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